Catching Up

Easter - spring clothes, and a chance to pose!

What a fantastic start to the week - glorious weather on Easter Monday. We had planned to go and walk in the Wyre Forest with church in the morning, but Bubbles woke with such a runny nose that we decided against it... come the afternoon I was feeling like a caged hen and desperate to get out and I said we would go out despite noses and whines, so Mum & Dad took us up to some hills they'd found not too far away - the Clent Hills. And it was wonderful - really felt like we were in the country. The view was stunning, and the kids enjoyed the feeling of 'openness'.

Handicrafts - getting the needle felting out again... it's good to start to get all the crafts out again! Bubbles made a penguin... I started on a 'something' - you know, one of those things you start but don't quite know what exactly you're making!

Bubbles version of 'Fishing Boat on the Beach' by Van Gogh.. she used water colour pencils in this book and had great fun doing it. She really does find colours quite hard though... it must be hard to see colours in a different way to others!
Here's the original...

Spike's version of Handicrafts!

Great weather for the ducks this week! The ground will have appreciated the rain though... makes me realise that we've not had that much rain since we moved, and doesn't the saying say 'April Showers, May Flowers'? Well, I'll happily tolerate the rain to see the flowers come up! We walked along to the Farm Shop for milk in the week, and got absolutely drenched... well, *I* did anyway! The kids had the umbrella so they fared a bit better... and it's not that far of a walk!


Our first taste of the craft sessions that are put on at Barnett Hill Garden Centre.. they had had them on all this week, but we decided to go on Friday when it was a 'paint a treasure chest' activity. It was busy, so we had to wait... but that worked well, as it meant that Spike was then happy to take part too (as it became quieter)... and they both did very well... Bubbles was very particular with how she did hers; Spike did a kind of random design, but he stuck with it which was really great!

Dinner at Morrisons, yum!

A surprise treat! I had ordered my perfume from The Body Shop online (there isn't a shop in Kiddy)... the order arrived and I opened the box... to find another lady's order! How strange - she lived in Cambridge, me over here in Kiddy! Wonder how that happened, someone who wasn't sure of their geography?! I phoned up to tell The Body Shop what had happened, and they said that since the order was so small (monetarily) that I could keep it and they'd get my order sent out asap! Well, I estimate that that's nearly £20 worth of goods there... if that's a small price, then I'm living in a different world to most people! To me, that's quite a lot! A very nice gift anyway.. and since I didn't have to pay for it, I don't mind whether it was small or large price!

Why did Jesus fold the Napkin?

I've had this passed on to me a couple of times now, and so I thought I'd post it up here. It's really thought-provoking....

Why Did Jesus Fold the Napkin?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection? I never noticed this....

The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes.

The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed separate from the grave clothes.

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.

She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!'

Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.

Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.

Was that important? Absolutely!

Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it.

The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table.

The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'.

But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because..........

The folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

He is Coming Back!

Good Friday

Started the day with planting out the potaotes and salad and doing some garden tidy-up... though it rained before I could cut the grass... nevermind, it'll keep for another day!

Found our first snails to share our house... some lovely baby ones... we must be feeling at home here now if we've started our bug collection again!

Yummy snack, made yesterday... along with copious hot cross buns, of course!

Well, I wasn't going to get us to make an 'Easter Garden', because I couldn't think where to get the moss from... but whilst tidying up the garden, some moss just peeled away very easily from the ground without too much of a mess, so we just went ahead and made the garden... and it's been a real blessing, making us ponder the whole 'season' a little more - made us more aware of what we are celebrating over these few days.



We didn't set out to create an accurate representation, please bear that in mind! It's just our prompt, to remember. We have included our Garden of Gethsemane (on the right, with lake and flowers); Golgotha, with the 3 crosses; and the tomb with stone over (on the left).

I've found this a very poignant reminder today, as we read matthew 27 together.

And we put guards against the tomb tonight... very important that - the kids were adamant and Bubbles went off to find some of her little soldiers, which Spike proudly put in place (he can't wait for them to 'faint' on Easter morning!).

Some spring reminders... and good for Easter thoughts too... the new leaves on the tree branch - new life: ours, because Jesus didn't stay dead but rose again... I'm SO thankful for that! and a berberous sprig: the sharp thorns reminded us of some of the suffering that Jesus endured in order to redeem us... sometimes it's good to have visual reminders.

We finished the day by watching "The Miracle Maker" together - great DVD that, and much enjoyed by us all.

Fun Thursday

Mum very kindly suggested she have the kids for a large part of today... so I packed them off up the hill... and then I walked down the hill into town for a browse around the shops and to see what there is of interest in Kidderminster town! We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in our respective places... I left the kids the camera and asked them to take photos of what they got up to... and here's what they did...

Chocolate nests - yum!

Fun, and creativity

Cousin T

Relaxation

I'm finally back - sore feet, but pleasantly refreshed!

Wordless Wednesday

What we have been doing...

Seems ages since posting last, so here's a quick round-up of what we have been doing! (In no particular order)

Out to use my new National Trust membership that I received for my birthday... We visited Dudmaston Estate. Lovely house, stunning gardens!




Yummy home-made smoothies... digging for dinosaur bones... gorgeous magnolia tree in neighbour's garden.





















A visit to the county museum - Hartlebury Castle. Lovely place, lots of history.

Old School room

A toy merry-go-round, that a middle class family would have had in the nursery... Bubbles and Spike wished it was in THEIR 'nursery'!

Out to a walk in the woods where the moat and coppice used to be, along with an old 'ice house'; and we found carpets of celandines.

Birds in tree (Bubbles' photo contribution)

"Mistletoe tree"... This is the first year I've ever seen or noticed Mistletoe growing! And this is the closest I've got to it. Fascinating stuff. Obviously, it's not a Mistletoe 'tree' as such, but a host tree that the Mistletoe is growing on... just needed to clear that up!

Ahhh... lambs...

School and Sience experiments - celery in food colouring... only we chose blue and green colouring instead of something bright like red... so it was hard to see that the colouring had worked it's way to the leaves! Duh! We'll remember next time!

Canada Geese on the Severn River outside Tesco.










When going out one day, Bubbles noticed this bug on the porch window, which she decided to name the 'T Bug'... I have no idea what it is, and must look up about it, but I've never seen one before!



I've also been busy organising myself! This is the less 'fun' side of what we've been up to!

I have been taking a fresh look at our 'school' and have decided to revamp our work and follow (to a large degree, though not totally strictly) Ambleside Online. I've plumped to work Bubbles & Spike through AO Year 1 together to start with, but in a period of 18 weeks rather than the said 36... it's perfectly manageable, and will give us a good grounding... then if we decide to split into 2 different levels we can next year. I have always like the Charlotte Mason style of education, and this 'curriculum' is entirely free (except you have to purchase the books needed) and where possible, it gives links to the books that can be read online without the need to purchase. I suppose that in many ways, I'm changing because we're now going to be having 'inspections' from the local authority... but I think this will be a good schedule for us to follow, and should help tie up all our loose ends... which weren't really loose, but a bit straggly looking!

I've also been thinking about the possible up-coming (though not pressingly urgent) need for me to work in the nearish future... and considering what I might be able to do. After initially tucking the thought to the back of my mind, filing it under 'can't cope with that thought right now', I decided to revisit it... My musings have led me to enrol on a course at the Home Learning College - the ICB Practical Book-keeping course. At worst, it should give me a good qualification; at best it might offer me the ability to work from home! Let's hope it's not too hard to master! It's always a little daunting starting to study again, and I'm aready worrying about the end of course exam, but maybe it won't be so bad!

Finally, I've been trying to get to grips with some sort of budget again... it's not all grim, and we've been doing a lot better since moving closer to amenities and using foot more than car, for example... but it would be nice to be able to see the credit card balance going down a bit, instead of throwing money at something that seems to stay static! I guess that's the price one pays for having used such a card (and not had the ability to pay off the balance) and a norm in the society we live in, where it doesn't seem to matter if you don't have the money, you can still have whatever you want at the click of a button... we live and learn... hopefully the kids will do better than I have when they grow up!

Been having fun on the Wii Fit too, despite all the serious stuff I've been up to... sorry, NO chance of a photo of me hula-hooping Shauna! It IS hilarious... but *not* something to be photographed! I have been frustrated at the moment by the simple balance game of trying to guide myself in a bubble down a river... I keep getting popped just before the finish - how annoying is that! And worse, it then describes me a 'unbalanced'!!

Wordless Wednesday (nearly)

Some birthday fun...